A limestone quarry in west Columbus will be turned into scenic parkland surrounded by mixed-use development under a joint plan by Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks and Wagenbrenner Development.
The site is adjacent to Shelly Materials working quarry.
In Project QT, as it's being called, a portion of the 607-acre quarry along the Scioto River will be turned into a regional destination for outdoors enthusiasts: Climbing on dramatic limestone rock features, mountain biking and hiking on rugged terrain, and kayaking in emerald green quarry basins.
“This is an amazing resource. The older quarry sections have had 50 years to restore themselves,” Tim Moloney, executive director of Metro Parks, told Columbia Business First.
“It’s a landscape that most people have never seen – that bare rock, that extreme environment. This site is screaming to become a park.”
Wagenbrenner is in contract to purchase 558 acres, with rights to acquire the entire site from owner Trabue Dublin LLC, an affiliate of Anaheim, California's Specialty Restaurants Corp.
The first phase of public parkland will encompass 62 acres of unused quarry northeast of Trabue and Dublin roads, west of Upper Arlington. The site is just south of a working aggregate mining operation.
A second phase will create 138 acres of additional parkland to the north. Wagenbrenner is still working out details of the ownership of the Metro Parks portion but both sides are committed to putting a public park there.
The entire quarry site could eventually be included, but meantime Wagenbrenner will continue leasing mineral rights on the northern portion of the site to Shelly Materials.
The 607-acre site is bounded by Dublin Road to the north and west, the Scioto River to the east and Trabue Road to the south. It is in the city of Columbus and the Hilliard school district.
